Alan Palomo, better known to most as Neon Indian, will play a New Year's Eve celebration in Dallas followed by a New Year's Day show with The Flaming Lips and Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, and after a few weeks off will embark on dates in Japan and Australia. Shortly thereafter comes the US dates, kicking off with a March 7th show at MoMA and concluding on May 12th at Terminal 5. Presale details are available at the Neon Indian site. All dates are listed below.

Neon Indian released Era Extrana in September, one of Rough Trade's favorites of 2011. Check out all tour dates, two videos from that record, and a another set of pictures from Fun Fun Fun Fest 6 below.

We recently mentioned that Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater are planning a tour together that hits NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 24 and Bowery Ballroom on February 25. Tickets for both NYC shows are available for AmEx presale now, and general sale starts Friday (11/11) at noon. All dates have also since been announced and are listed below.

After the tour, Sharon will go on a string of dates with The War on Drugs, who open for The National at Beacon Theatre the night before Sharon does. Sharon's new album, Tramp, comes out February 7 via Jagjaguwar.

Sharon's friends and fellow Brooklynites The Antlers are following their release of Burst Apart, which came out earlier this year, with the (together) EP, which features material from the Burst Apart sessions. It includes collaborations with Neon Indian, Bear In Heaven, Nicole Atkins, and a cover of The xx's "VCR," which you can download above. The EP's tracklist is below. The Antlers are currently on a European tour and will return to NYC for a Webster Hall show on December 10 with Suuns. Tickets for that show are still available.

Speaking of The xx, they've recently begun working on a new album and have started a blog, where they've posted the message:

We have started recording our second album! We have also started this blog where we will post our inspirations + pictures + favourite songs. We hope you enjoy it! Lots of Love, The xx

Julianna Barwick, who is also a guest on Sharon's album, recently released the Matrimony Remixes EP, which features remixes of two of the tracks off of her most recent LP, The Magic Place, which came out earlier this year. The entire EP is available to stream and download for $5 on bandcamp and features remixes by Diplo & Lunice, Helado Negro, Alias Pail, and Prince Rama. Julianna also provided guest vocals to Korallreven's debut LP, which comes out November 15 via Acephale. Her vocals appear on the song "Sa Sa Samoa," which you can download above.

Spoon had nothing to promote and no surplus of new songs to unveil. This was just an Austin band -- Austin's biggest indie band ever -- playing an Austin festival for their only major show of 2011 (at least so far). As a live unit, the four-piece that recorded Transmission (augmented here by an additional percussionist) is as precise as Spoon has ever been, cranking out savagely controlled, often slow-building versions of such songs as "Written in Reverse," "Delicate Places" and the instantaneously applauded "I Turn My Camera On." "We got horns!" frontman Britt Daniel proclaimed, bringing out a six-man section for "Cherry Bomb," "The Underdog" and "Jonathan Fisk." By the four-song encore, the crowd had both increased in enthusiasm and decreased in size -- no doubt some people had wandered to another stage to see the Damned, which Daniel himself had said he wished that he could do. [SPIN]

Personally I started at the Damned (who were great) and finished Saturday with about 30 minutes of Spoon which felt like the perfect chill ending to a long first-two-days of the outdoor Austin fest (right after their set I went back to the hotel, skipped all afterparties and crashed for 12 hours straight which made Sunday great).

Our first set of pictures from Saturday, Damned included, are HERE. Our second set continues, more of Spoon included, below...

Terrence Malick, the famously perfectionist film-maker who has released just five movies since 1973, is to shoot two new films back-to-back with all-star casts, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The US director has named the projects Lawless and Knight of Cups - although his follow-up to the Palme d'Or-winning The Tree of Life, now in post-production, still lacks a title. In total, Malick watchers are likely to be treated to at least three new films over the next few years. Moreover, it has also been suggested he is planning a documentary companion piece to The Tree of Life.

Lawless is set to star Ryan Gosling, with support from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett. Bale will step up to the lead role in Knight of Cups, which also features Blanchett and Isabel Lucas. The third film, as yet untitled, is a romance starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, with support from Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz. Its storyline is a closely guarded secret, as are those of Malick's two other films. [Guardian]

"Did you see Ryan Gosling?" and "Ryan Gosling is here" were two popular phrases being spoken by attendees of Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin on Friday. Personally I saw Ryan when he was on stage with his film crew during YACHT's set. YACHT, along with Big Freedia and Neon Indian and some others, have reportedly agreed to be part of the movie (which also means we can expect another day of Gosling because Neon Indian plays today). Terrence and Rooney Mara were also on hand, and Ryan was also spotted at the afterparty Big Freedia played at the Mohawk later Friday night.

Neon Indian is currently on a tour that will pass through NYC this week for CMJ and hit Webster Hall on Friday (10/21). Tickets for this show are still on sale. Neon Indian recently announced even more dates too. They're all listed bleow.

While he's here, he'll DJ the Force Field/Hipster Runoff/Pop Gun presented BleepyBloopFest at Cameo Gallery on Friday night (10/21). There will also be DJ sets by Teengirl Fantasy, Carles?, Beach Fossils, Dent May, and Tao Lin (actually Carles?). The party is free and runs from 12 to 4 AM. Alan will also DJ the Pitchfork-presented afternoon party at Aloft Hotel on Saturday (10/22) with DOM and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The venue is located at 216 Duffield Street in Brooklyn and the show runs from 2 to 6 PM.

Com Truise, who is on the Neon Indian tour, but wasn't initially scheduled to appear at the Webster Hall show, will in fact be on the bill. They also play an International Tapes party on Friday (10/21) at 285 Kent with DOM, Laurel Halo, Porcelain Raft, La Big Vic, and Beige.

Purity Ring, who are also on the Webster Hall show, have a few of their own CMJ shows coming up as well. We've mentioned the Windish Agency showcase at Mercury Lounge on Friday (10/21) with Small Black, Gauntlet Hair, Cuckoo Chaos, and others, as well as Fader Fort Saturday with Wavves, Danny Brown, Polica, Fat Trel, Weekend, and Gauntlet Hair. They also play two more shows on Saturday. There's the recently announced Bowery Presents day party at Pianos on Saturday (10/22) with We Are Scientists, Caveman, Races (who play the recently announced BV Friday day party), and others. And Purity Ring will also appear at the BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly on Saturday (10/22) (full lineup TBA).

Era Extraña, the upcoming album by Neon Indian (aka Alan Palomo) will be released next week on September 13 via Static Tongues/Mom + Pop. While you wait, you can stream the entire over at NPR. You can also listen to "Fallout" and "Polish Girl" HERE and listen to "Hex Girlfriend" below. The album is available for pre-order at Neon Indian's website.

The day of the album's release, Alan will DJ an instore at Other Music (9/13) in NYC. Admission is free and the event lasts from 6 - 8 PM. According to Other Music's site, Alan will also be "signing records and hanging with the fans all evening." After the instore, Alan will make his way over to Music Hall of Williamsburg to DJ the 826NYC Prom, which also features DJ sets by Yeasayer, BAIO, and CANT. Tickets for that are still on sale.

For Fashion's Night Out, which takes place in NYC on Thursday (9/8), the Philip Lim boutique (115 Mercer Street) will transform into a "Girls on Bikes stop" from 6 - 9 PM. It's "in the vein of a truck stop but for chic girls around town who ride bikes." Those who attend will be able to pick up tickets to see Neon Indian at the penthouse at the Mondrian Hotel in SoHo (150 Lafayette), where he will perform for an invite-only crowd later on in the night.

Purity Ring will also play a Windish Agency CMJ Showcase that same night (10/21) at Mercury Lounge with Drop the Lime, Small Black, We Barbarians, High Highs, Gauntlet Hair, Electric Guest, and Cuckoo Chaos. Tickets for the showcase go on sale Thursday (9/1) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/31) at noon (you can also try to get in with a CMJ badge). All tour dates are listed below.

Purity Ring are set to release a split 7" with fellow Canadians Braids on October 11 via Fat Possum. Grab Purity Ring's contribution, "Belispeak," above and check out the artwork, which is above too.

Speaking of Braids and We Barbarians, Braids are going on tour with Pepper Rabbit, but before they do Pepper Rabbit will play their own show with We Barbarians and ANR at Mercury Lounge on August 31. Tickets are still available. Braids play Mercury Lounge a week later. Tickets are still on sale.

An important update from Long Beach - Quiksilver is working closely with the City of Long Beach to preserve the heart of the professional surf contest scheduled to start on Sunday, September 4 in light of the impact of Hurricane Irene and concerns for the Long Beach community, which suffered significant damage from the storm. The Quiksilver Pro is scheduled to start its 11-day "holding period" on Monday, September 5. The Quiksilver Pro Trials presented by Unsound Surf will run on Sunday, September 4.

The situation has been changing daily, and we recognize that City resources are focused on hurricane restoration and clean up as first priority. In that context, we have been informed by the City that the festival and music components of the event are no longer achievable.

The Quiksilver Pro NY is first and foremost about the surf contest and Long Beach has an incredible surfing tradition and spirit. We are committed to holding the ASP tour event at Long Beach so that together we can promote the sport by bringing together the best surfers in the world to this terrific community.

826NYC, the non-profit writing center for NYC students, is teaming up with Bowery to present 'The Prom You Were Promised: A Benefit for 826NYC' at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 13. The event is designed to recreate a prom night with formal attire and DJ sets by Yeasayer, BAIO (of Vampire Weekend), Neon Indian, and CANT (Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear) (they're all DJ sets). It will be hosted by Jason Sudeikis of SNL. Tickets are on sale now.

You can also catch CANT (the actual band, not a DJ set) for free at the free Spotify show with Blood Orange at Mercury Lounge on Sunday (8/28).

As mentioned, Neon Indian is releasing his sophomore LP Era Extraña on September 13. On August 23, three weeks before the album comes out, Neon Indian will release a 7" with the album tracks "Polish Girl" and "Fallout." The 7" will be available for a $2 purchase and will come with a coupon to receive $2 off a purchase of the full length when it is released.

You can also pre-order the full length on Neon Indian's website as a number of different packages. The most interesting (and most expensive) one comes with the Bleep Labs Custom Synth. According to the site:

The PAL198X is a mini analog synthesizer designed by Bleep Labs and Neon Indian. It features swappable controls that allow all three of its oscillators to be independently controlled with the included knobs and light sensors or with all kinds of devices just by screwing them in.

That package also comes with the LP, CD, t-shirt, and a poster. Check out the two tracks from the 7", "Fallout" and "Polish Girl" below.

Watch out House of Vans, it looks like yeat another corporate-sponsored show-series is vying for contender of "best free shows" in NY this year. Taking place over fifteen days in Long Beach, NY (and finally explaining that mysterious Flaming Lips date), The Quiksilver Pro New York series ("the first-ever ASP World Championship Tour stop on the East Coast of the United States") will feature surfing, skating, and BMX demos from some of the biggest names out there (Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk, etc).... not to mention some major music acts like The Flaming Lips, Girl Talk, Interpol, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Q-Tip, Neon Indian, Wavves, Taking Back Sunday, Saves The Day, and many more. Best of all, admission to everything is FREE.

All dates with the full lineups are below, but the music portion kicks off on Saturday, 9/3 with Girl Talk, Saves The Day, "a special surprise performance" & more. Sunday has Interpol, Portugal. The Man, The Ettes (who play NYC tonight), and more. Monday (Labor Day) will see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Civil Twilight, and more. 9/9 is probably the most impressive show with The Flaming Lips, Q-Tip, Neon Indian, Wavves and Charlotte O'Connor. Saturday 9/10 will play host to a "Benefit Concert Hosted By Kelly Slater & Friends + The Max Weinberg Experience" with Taking Back Sunday, The Sounds and SLUNT. More details on the benefit show are TBA.

If you can't make it to Long Island, "The Quiksilver Pro New York will be broadcast from September 3-15 by MSG and Fuse, with programming that will feature some of the biggest artists, athletes and live performances from the event."

Back in April, we mentioned that Neon Indian (aka Alan Palomo) was working on a new LP, though little information was available. It's since been revealed that the album will be titled Era Extraña and will be released "on Palomo's own Static Tongues imprint in conjunction with Mom + Pop Music in North America, Transgressive Records in the United Kingdom and Europe, Pop Frenzy/Inertia in Australia and Big Nothing Records in Japan." That's the cover art above.

Alan, who hates the term 'chillwave' anyway, further distances himself on this album from the 'genre.' While bands like Toro y Moi and Memory Tapes are practically full blown disco acts, with Era Extraña, Neon Indian is diving more into the psychedelic pop he created on his 2009 debut Psychic Chasms. Though he's no longer using those sometimes-tongue-in-cheek song titles like "Deadbeat Summer" and "Terminally Chill" to let you know his synth pop is more on the experimental side. He's instead exploring new sounds and musical themes that demand to be taken more seriously. Running throughout the album is a three-part instrumental piece titled "Heart: Attack", "Heart: Decay", and "Heart: Release". He flirts with late '80s shoegaze on the guitar-driven "Blindside Kiss." Like other lo-fi artists are starting to do, he's embracing clearer pop vocals on some of the tracks like "Polish Girl" and "Hex Girlfriend," but the most interesting element of the new album is the experimentation with electronics. Era Extraña doesn't come off as the work of a pop artist with a keyboard and reverb, but rather an experimental artist who understands pop.

The video for "Heart: Attack" surfaced with that initial album announcement in April and now the one for "Heart: Decay" is available as well. Check both out below. The album was produced and mixed with Dave Fridmann, known for his work with The Flaming Lips, who Alan recorded a 4-track EP with earlier this year. The EP was even more far-out and experimental than anything by either artist involved. Vinyl pressings of that EP sold out pretty quickly but there are some available on ebay. Or try mediafire at your own risk.

Neon Indian will tour in support of the album this September and October. Whether Danny of the Big Sleep is still on guitar by that point, like he was at Governors Ball, remains to be seen but is likely if the tour doesn't coincide with the release of the new Big Sleep album (which is coming soon). All dates are listed below.

The Neon Indian tour concludes in NYC on October 21 at Webster Hall which means the show is probably part of CMJ. Check ticketmaster for Webster Hall tickets (or maybe wait to see if you can get in with your CMJ badge).

While Neon Indian's music is soaked in nostalgia, the Webster Hall show and other October dates are being opened by the futuristic electro-pop duoPurity Ring. As of now, the Webster show will be Purity Ring's first in NYC. Com Truise also open some dates on the tour.

After sets by Outasight, Reptar, Passion Pit (DJ set), and Das Racist (pictures HERE), came sets by Mac Miller, Miami Horror, People Under the Stairs, and Neon Indian on Saturday (6/18). Our second set of pictures from the Governors Ball on Governors Island continues below...

The schedule has been revealed for the Governor's Ball Music Festival taking place at Governor's Island on June 18. The festival has artists performing on two stages (Big Apple Stage and Gotham Stage), but with no overlapping sets. The two stages means no long changeovers either though. You can run and back and forth and catch all of everyone. Das Racist have been added since the initial lineup announcement, though they go on pretty early. Tickets are still available. Check out the schedule, and a video interview with Girl Talk, below.

Cults will team with Oberhofer and Puro Instinct to play a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 28th. The show is FREE (16+) but RSVP is required. The show is a shade also more than a month before Cults's East Coast tour that brings them back to the same exact venue on on June 9th. Tickets for that show are on sale. Still no word on how to get into the show Cults are playing at The Box on June 8th.

Oberhofer head out on tour with Neon Indian on May 16th. No NYC dates on that trek, but Neon Indian plays Governors Island on 6/18as part of The Governors Ball. Meanwhile Neon Alan is readying a new album, says a press release....

"Neon Indian's Alan Palomo has had a busy Winter. He traveled to Helsinki to begin work on the 2nd Neon Indian album, which he's putting the finishing touches on now in New York. Upon his return from Helsinki he was whisked away by the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, resulting in the collaboration EP release The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian.

Today Neon Indian offers the first glimpse at the band's second LP, with a video clip that includes music from the new album. Titled after the first of a three-part instrumental movement excerpted from the upcoming LP, Heart: Attack gives us an initial glimpse into the subzero shores of Helsinki where Alan disappeared to over the winter months in the writing of this record. Shot and edited by Austin filmmaker Sean Lopez.

Currently the new Neon Indian LP has no confirmed title or label yet, but the band promises it will be released in the Fall of 2011."

That video clip, and all Cults, Neon Indian and Oberhofer dates and stuff, below...

"Founders Entertainment are proud to present the inaugural Governors Ball Music Festival (www.govball.com), a one day event to be held June 18 on New York City's Governors Island. Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, and Empire of the Sun are joined by Big Boi (of Outkast), Neon Indian, People Under The Stars, Mac Miller,Miami Horror, Passion Pit (DJ Set), Reptar, Outasight and other artists to be announced over the coming weeks. Closing out the festival will be Pretty Lights, whose rising popularity will be complimented by his brand new state of the art production.

The Governors Ball promises to be a massive mid-summer dance party of epic proportions. Performances will take place on two stages without overlapping sets, and feature stunning views. The artists appearing at the inaugural Governors Ball are diverse in scope and sound, spanning indie rock, dance, electronica, and hip hop, but the common theme and guiding force behind the festival is music that gets people of all walks of life moving, dancing and having a good time." - PR

Early Bird Tickets go on sale Thurs. Feb. 24th at 10 AM EST. They start at $75 each and go up in price as the date gets closer or if you want VIP options.

The closest thing we've seen to this on Governors Island is HARD Fest that took place with M.I.A. in July. This lineup, with more than one artist on the bill who can headline multiple nights at Terminal 5, is bigger though.

The first 300 kids lined up down the street got in. An aside: the only "Skins"-like moment of the night were the high schoolers behind me doing coke while their girlfriends peed on the sidewalk an hour and a half into the two hour freezing cold wait.

If you got in you'd find yourself awash in day-glo, smoke machines and a strange party that was equal parts rave and small town carnival. There was a rave themed moon-bounce and blacklight-face-paint... neat... Think "dance party themed" Bar Mitzvah with a real big budget.

The cast of the show was there too, they'd come down from an upper level, no drinks in hand, answering the pressing question of the night--whether or not the underage cast would be seen partying. Perhaps they left their drinks upstairs.

The entertainment was decent, including Klever, Drop The Lime, and Kill The Noise. The DJs played throughout the night, hunched over laptops, cranking out house and dubstep. A break in the rave came around 12 when Sleigh Bells came on-stage to play possibly the loudest set the human ear can handle. -[Gawker]

If you were left out in the cold (literally) at the Skins launch party, don't fret. After Sleigh Bells return from a stint in Europe at the tail end of February, the duo will hit the US with CSS for a string of tour dates in early May that will include dates at Webster Hall on May 11th and Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 12th. Tickets for both shows (Webster Hall, MHoW) go on AMEX presale on 1/26 at noon and regular sale 48 hours later. Neon Indian will open the dates that CSS won't, and Mr. Dream is on board for a string of dates including Webster Hall (with CSS).

A recent update to Diplo's Mad Decent blog revealed quite a bit about what Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells (ex-Poison The Well) and Diplo have been up to:

"Derek from sleigh bellz and me have matching florida tattoos and we both are from shitty parts of broward county // & their last album was one of the sickest of '10 .. its soo sick, its gave me a stomach ache .. half lyrnyrd skinnard half bangladesh half man half alligator.. . me and derek and alexis are bros and sis for life. in fact i like sleigh bells so much .. me and switch was in studio in nyc tryin to make tracks with derek and beyonce last week after we played her team their album .. dunno if we gonna manage to finish but was good times." - Diplo

A few things we learn from the above paragraph: First of all, Diplo needs a proofreader (like we can talk) and second, keep your fingers crossed because a Beyonce/Diplo/Switch/Derek Miller collabo track could surface (sounds interesting). While we wait, check out another Derek Miller/Diplo creation - a remix for Sleigh Bells's "Tell Em" (the actual reason for Diplo's blog post) which is downloadable above and streaming below, along side all tour dates.

In related News, Wayne Coyne recently talked to Spin about some of the Lips' plans for 2011...

First up, the band is heading to New York to cut tracks with synth-pop artist Neon Indian and longtime producer Dave Fridmann, and they're hoping to release the results on the fly. "We're going to do two or three songs with him and that shit should be ready to go pretty quickly," says Coyne, who posted a demo of a potential collaborative track earlier this week. "I have a couple of tunes that he's heard and we'll just do that shit and fix that up and fuck around together."

Coyne adds that he'd love to do similar collaborations with Deerhoof and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "I think everybody would be up for doing something. But a lot of it comes down to us fitting into their schedules. I can always sneak in on their thing."

Finally, Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips recently dropped the score for The Heart Is Drum Machine, a documentary that examines music and human attraction to it. The twelve-track mostly-instrumental LP features tracks like "Born" (downloadable above, streamable below) and a cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man" featuring none other than Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle. The film also features Drozd, Keenan, & Wayne Coyne, alongside appearances from Jason Schwartzman, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, Juliette Lewis, Spoon's Britt Daniel, George Clinton, and many others who all discuss their personal connection to music. The Heart Is A Drum Machine is out now on DVD and the soundtrack is out now on iTunes.

The soundtrack tracklisting, the film trailer, and that song stream are all below.

Prince Rama's intentions are great: blending Native American tribal drumming, Eastern Indian mantras and cathartic howls, fantastical synth bits and a dose of pixie dust to make a cacophony of a melting pot played by the likes of two sisters, Taraka and Nimai Larson, and one guy, Michael Collins. It's all a little bit Kate Bush meets Bat For Lashes, a little bit Gang Gang Dance, but sadly, the voices constantly seemed off pitch so any attempt at musical grandness became kitsch, at least tonight...

The true cosmic dance party only began when Neon Indian took the stage. At this point, Brooklyn Bowl was packed and filled with half Halloween revelers, half frat types looking to pick up gals in itty bitty costumes. The night improved the more we focused on the stage and sound and let Alan Palomo's theremin as well as his pulsating beats, dreamer croon and the band's spacey pop take over. -[Sentimentalist]

Neon Indian headlined Brooklyn Bowl on 10/29 with Prince Rama and Apache Beat, part of a Halloween celebration at the venue that included a costume contest. The show was one of a few for the chillwave-r, who continues his tour in Buffalo (11/4) before calling it quits in Ithaca right after that. Neon Indian will then jet across the Pacific to play a string of shows around New Years leading up to an appearance at Field Day 2011 in Sydney.

Prince Rama have no NYC dates until December when the band will team up with Deakin (who opened for Omar Souleyman last night) to play The New Museum on 12/10 (tickets). The Brooklyn band will spend the days leading up to that appearance in Europe. Full (updated) tour dates are below.